In a message to the campus community today, Vice President for Student Affairs Jim Terhune announced that L. Simone Collins will join the College on Monday, March 21, as the new director of counseling and psychological services (CAPS). She brings to Swarthmore an integrated, clinical approach that is well-suited to serve students with a broad range of backgrounds and concerns.

Collins comes to Swarthmore from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Mental Health Services, where she has served as director of outreach and as a licensed psychologist since 2016. She earned a B.A. with honors in psychology and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Central Arkansas, as well as completed a postdoctoral residency at Union College.

At Wisconsin, Collins developed and managed mental health outreach programming. She established a health ambassador program, recruited a student advisory board, and developed peer support programs, among other initiatives. She also worked effectively with campus partners, created an annual event to promote overall wellness, and developed programming designed to make mental health services more accessible.

Collins' areas of clinical interest include relational/interpersonal and family concerns; phase-of-life transitions; identity exploration; anxiety; depression; and concerns related to race/ethnicity, religion, class, ability status, body size, and sexual and/or gender identity. She also centers sex positivity, social justice, and the destigmatization of mental health in her work.

In her new role at Swarthmore, Collins will provide leadership and strategic direction to Swarthmore’s CAPS program. In collaboration with the CAPS staff and campus partners, she will work to expand the range of services CAPS offers and raise the profile of CAPS at Swarthmore to better meet students’ evolving mental health needs.